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Avoiding Discriminatory Candidate Practices: Panelist Interview

On October 5th AESC launches its new webinar series for AESC members. The first webinar will focus on Avoiding Discriminatory Candidate Practices: A Global Perspective. Ahead of the webinar, here is a snapshot of what to expect from the webinar from one of our panelists, Oliver Brettle, Partner, White & Case.

As the war for talent increasingly crosses borders, why is it important for an executive search firm to have a global perspective to avoiding candidate discrimination?

The discrimination laws which apply in each individual country vary to an extent. What may be acceptable, or even encouraged, conduct in one country may be unlawful in another country. For example, profiling of candidates to ensure gender balance would be tolerable, if not encouraged, in the UK/US but would be prohibited in France. If you are conducting a global search, you have to be aware of local sensitivities and local differences so that you don't make an error.

Why does this continue to be a pertinent issue, even for very experienced executive search practitioners?

First of all, laws have a nasty habit of changing and even if the laws don't change, the interpretation of the laws may change by the courts' decisions. Secondly, it is quite interesting how rapidly governments are getting more involved in (particularly) gender balance. You can see the recent efforts at a European Union level to bring in mandatory balance in gender on boards. The focus of governments and courts changes and when it does, you will see your clients expecting you to react to these trends in their instructions.

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